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Michigan and the city of Flint have agreed to spend the next several years replacing roughly 18,000 aging underground pipes as part of a far-reaching legal settlement over the city’s ongoing crisis involving lead-tainted water. A settlement approved by a federal judge Tuesday will require the state to fund Flint’s efforts to replace the lead and galvanized water service lines by 2020. (Dennis, 3/28)

The joint venture between UCF medical school and the for-profit hospital chain HCA took another step on Wednesday toward building a 100-bed hospital in Lake Nona. The Facilities Committee of the Florida Board of Governors unanimously approved the deal. The public-private venture will go in front of the full board on Thursday for a final vote. (Miller, 3/29)

It’s a test the Massachusetts health care system has failed two years in a row: restraining growth in medical spending to 3.6 percent. But undeterred, the state’s health care watchdog agency on Wednesday approved a more aggressive target, saying doctors and hospitals must do more to slash unnecessary costs. The Health Policy Commission reset the limit to 3.1 percent a year, starting in 2018. (Dayal McCluskey, 3/29)

Massachusetts will aim to hold health care spending increases to 3.1 percent next year, a drop from this year's target of 3.6 percent. Both targets were set in a 2012 state law that aimed to keep the growth of health care costs in line with other sectors of the economy. The state's Health Policy Commission could have voted against the lower benchmark for the coming year, but it did not. (Bebinger, 3/29)

Though it has made strides in some health measurements, Petersburg remains one of the unhealthiest municipalities in Virginia as poverty continues to plague the city. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s annual County Health Rankings report places Petersburg at 132 on the list of Virginia counties and cities, followed only by Emporia. (Demeria, 3/29)

Forsyth County, northeast of Atlanta, is the healthiest in Georgia for the fifth straight year, according to the 2017 County Health Rankings. The list was released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The rest of the top 10 are: Oconee, Fayette, Gwinnett, Cherokee, Columbia, Cobb, Harris, Coweta and Paulding. Those were the same as last year, though in a different order. (Miller, 3/29)

The country's largest advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people has criticized Johns Hopkins Medicine in its latest health index for not taking a tough stance on the controversial views of two of its psychologists who believe there is virtually no scientific evidence that people are born gay or transgender. The Human Rights Campaign deducted 25 points from the medical institution's final score under the "responsible citizenship" clause. The clause focuses on activity that would undermine the care or equality of LGBTQ patients. (McDaniels, 3/29)

The first drug to treat an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis has won approval from the Food and Drug Administration, a significant medical development with ties to the Tampa Bay area. Local patients helped test the safety and effectiveness of the drug in clinical trials at the University of South Florida's Multiple Sclerosis Center, said Dr. Derrick Robertson, the center's director. (McGrory, 3/30)

Replacing the aging twin towers at the MetroHealth System main campus will dramatically improve patient care and sustain the future of Cuyahoga County's hospital, officials say. MetroHealth's board of trustees voted March 22 to self-issue $1.3 billion in bonds for the project, including a parking garage, central utility plant and 12-story hospital. The building is expected to open in 2022 with 150 adult acute care beds, 96 perinatal care beds and 24 specialty unit beds. (Farkas, 3/29)

Sixteen years ago, city and school officials in San Francisco came together with dentists to figure out how to improve oral health in students. The program screens all San Francisco public school kindergartners for tooth decay.A new report shows it’s working. (Klivans, 2/39)

More than 150 parents came out to a Tuesday night school board meeting to oppose a controversial new sexual health education curriculum that many said was “too graphic” and “not age appropriate” for their Cupertino Union School District seventh-graders. At the March 28 meeting, the school board voted 2-2, with Phyllis Vogel and Anjali Kausar in favor, Liang Chao and Kristen Lyn voting against and Soma McCandless recusing herself. (Myllenbeck, 3/29)

As some states and cities around the nation look to ease criminal punishment for marijuana possession, Tennessee’s conservative Republican legislature is blocking that trend in Nashville and Memphis. As a result, police in those cities could soon lose their option of giving minor citations for carrying small amounts of marijuana. (Mattise, 3/29)